Caroline Spelman, the shadow communities secretary, was ordered by MPs last night to repay £9,600 from her parliamentary allowances for breaching rules by overpaying her assistant to be both an administrator and a nanny.

The Commons standards and privileges committee found that the Tory frontbencher had misapplied cash from the taxpayer by paying her nanny/administrator, Tina Haynes, too much money for the job, which included non-parliamentary duties. She paid her £4,800 a year more than she should have for a parliamentary assistant's job – enabling Spelman not to pay her as a nanny.

However, John Lyon, the parliamentary standards commissioner, said he considered that the rules were so vague at the time, some 10 years ago, that her breach was "unintended" and could have arisen because she was under a lot of pressure as a new MP who had been parachuted into the Meriden seat in a byelection.

Spelman has agreed to repay the cash and last night issued an apology. "I apologise sincerely for it: I fully accept people have a right to expect the highest standards from people in public life," she said.

The Conservatives plan to draw a line under the matter following the report and there is no question that she will be asked to stand down. Spelman had referred herself to the commissioner so he could he investigate allegations raised by the BBC2 Newsnight programme.

The allegations, which became known as "Nannygate", suggested that she had deliberately misused her allowance to cover childcare and that Haynes had only had minor administrative tasks.

This view was rejected by the commissioner, who found that Haynes did a proper administrator's job but was overpaid for the work.

The report raises a much wider question about MPs' need to pay people to look after their children while they are in parliament and working in their constituencies. It points out that MPs' staff have access to childcare through a voucher scheme and advice on how to get help looking after their children.

The MPs' report concludes: "Members of Parliament have no such access and must make their own arrangements. We consider this to be inequitable, and disproportionately so for women members, who are more likely to have primary responsibility for childcare."

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Sleaze watchdog rules senior Tory Caroline Spelman must repay £9,600

This article was published on
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at 13.59 EST on Tuesday 3 March 2009.
It was last modified at 13.59 EST on Tuesday 3 March 2009.
It was first published at 13.31 EST on Tuesday 3 March 2009.